TMI Blog1952 (11) TMI 13X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ning an area of 2235 square yards for being let certain conditions. One Sitaram Luxman was the highest bidder and was declared the tenant at an annual rent per square yard to be calculated at the rate of 41/2 per cent of ₹ 29 per square yard and he signed the memorandum of agreement incorporating the conditions upon which the auction was held and by which he agreed to be bound. He deposited the moneys in terms of clause 3 of the conditions, and upon such payment entered into possession of the plots. By clause 7 Sitaram Luxman agreed, within the time specified therein, to build and complete at a cost of not less than ₹ 50,000 a building consisting of 5 floors with suitable offices, drains etc. according to plans and specifications to be made by an approved architect and approved by the Board By clause 17 he agreed, so soon as the main building should be roofed in, to insure in the joint names of the Board and of himself and, until the granting of the lease thereinafter provided, keep insured the buildings and works the plots for the full value thereof. Clause 18 of the conditions was as follows:- 18. The lease. Immediately after the completion within t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nsured against fire in the joint names of the lessor and the lessee and to rebuild or reinstate and repair the building if destroyed or damaged by fire or otherwise. There was a proviso for re-entry for non-payment of rent for 30 days or for breach of any of the lessee s covenants. In 1925 all the properties of the Trustees for the Improvement of the City of Bombay vested in the Bombay Municipality under and by virtue of Bombay Act XVI of 1925. By a deed of assignment made April 26, 1948, Shri Bhatia Co-operative Housing Society Limited, a society registered under the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act, VII of 1921, the appellant before us, acquired the lessee s interest in the demised premises. June 29, 1948, the appellant served a notice the respondent before us who was a monthly tenant in occupation of Block No. B/2 the ground floor of the New Sitaram Building at a monthly rental of ₹ 52-5-9 to quit and vacate the same July 31, 1948. By his advocate s reply the respondent maintained that he had been paying the rent regularly and otherwise performing the terms of his tenancy and claimed the protection of the Bombay Rents, Hotel and Lodging House Rates Control Act, 1947 (A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction to entertain and try any suit between a landlord and a tenant relating to the recovery of rent or possession of any premises to which any of the provisions of that Part of the Act applied and to decide any application made under the Act and to deal with any claim or question arising out of the Act and no other Court should have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding or to deal with such claim or question. If, as contended for by the appellant, the Act does not apply to the premises, then section 28 which is an integral part of the Act and takes away the jurisdiction of all Courts other than the Small Causes Court in Greater Bombay cannot obviously be invoked by the respondent. The crucial point, therefore, in order to determine the question of the jurisdiction of the City Civil Court to entertain the suit, is to ascertain whether, in view of section 4 of the Act, the Act applies to the premises at all. If it does, the City Civil Court has no jurisdiction but if it does not, then it has such jurisdiction. The question at once arises as to who is to decide this point in controversy. It is well settled that a Civil Court has inherent power to decide the question of its ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f section 4 (1) quite clearly exempts any tenancy or other like relationship created by the Government but the first part makes no reference to Any tenancy or other like relationship at all but exempts the premises belonging to the Government or a local authority. If the intention of the first -#part were as formulated in item (1), then the first part of section 4 (1), like the second part, would have run thus:- This Act shall not apply to any tenancy or other likerelationship created by Government or local authority in respect of premises belonging to it. The Legislature was familiar with this form of expression, for it adopted it in the second part and yet it did not use that form in the first. The conclusion is, therefore, irresistible that the Legislature did not by the first part intend to exempt the relationship of landlord and tenant but intended to confer the premises belonging to Government an immunity from the operation of the Act. Learned counsel for the respondent next contends that the immunity given by the first part should be held to be available only to the Government or a local authority to which the premises belong. If that were the intention then the L ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... see as suggested by learned counsel for the respondent and the Act applied to the premises as against the lessee, then it must follow that under section 15 of the Act it will not be lawful for the lessee to sublet the premises or any part of it. If such were the consequences, nobody will take a building lease from the Government or a local authority -and the immunity given to the Government or a local authority will, for all practical purposes and in so far at any rate as the building leases are concerned, be wholly illusory and worthless and the underlying purpose for bestowing such immunity will be rendered wholly ineffective. In our opinion, therefore, the consideration of the protection of the interests of the sub-tenants in premises belonging to the Government or a local authority cannot override the plain meaning of the preamble or the first part of section 4 (1) and frustrate the real purpose of protecting and furthering the interests of the Government or a local authority by conf erring its property an immunity from the operation of the Act. Finally, learned counsel for the respondent urges that the words belonging to have not been used in a technical sense and should ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ip, in the land and in the building is in the lessor. It is true that the lessee erected the building a this own cost but he did so for the lessor and the lessor s land agreed terms. The fact that the lessee incurred expenses in putting up the building is precisely the consideration for the lessor granting him a lease for 999 years not only of the building but of the land as well at what may, for all we know, be a cheap rent which the lessor may not have otherwise agreed to do. By the agreement the building became the property of the lessor and the lessor demised the land and the building which, in the circumstances, in law and in fact belonged to the lessor. The law of fixtures under section 108 of the Transfer of Property Act may be different from the English law, but section 108 is subject to any agreement that the parties may choose to make. Here, by the agreement the building became part of the land and the property of the lessor and the lessee took a lease that footing. The lessee or a person claiming title through him cannot now be heard to say that the building does not belong to the lessor. Forfeiture does not, for the first time, give title to the lessor. forfeiture he re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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